A Seat by the Hearth by Amy Clipston

Author:Amy Clipston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2018-09-25T16:00:00+00:00

“I need to talk to you about something.” Priscilla tucked Ethan’s sheet around him.

“Okay.” Ethan’s dark eyes focused on her with interest. “What is it?”

“Mark and I have decided to get married.”

“Oh.” Ethan nodded. “So that means he’ll live with us, right?”

“That’s exactly right. We’re going to stay in the daadihaus until we build another haus.”

“Will he be mei daed?”

“Ya, he’ll be your stepfather. Do you know what that means?”

He nodded. “My best friend, Nico, has a stepfather. So he has two fathers.”

“Right.” She rubbed his arm. “How do you feel about that?”

Ethan shrugged. “It’s okay.” He paused for a minute as if contemplating something. “Can I call Mark Dat since he’ll be my Amish dad?”

“Ya, I think that would be fine.” She smiled as relief flooded her. He seemed to be taking it better than she thought he would.

“My friend Sammi back in Baltimore said people fall in love and then they get married. Does that mean that you and Mark are in love?”

“Ah, well, no, not exactly.” Priscilla rubbed at a knot in her shoulder. “Mark and I are friends—freinden. Sometimes freinden decide to get married.” She stilled, hoping her son would accept that answer.

“Okay.” He nodded again. “So if two people really like each other, they can get married.”

“Right.”

“And that means you, me, and Mark will live in a haus together just like a family?”

Priscilla smiled as an unexpected warmth rolled through her. “That’s exactly right.”

“Nico has a half brother and a half sister. Will I get a brother and sister too? A bruder and schweschder?”

Her stomach lurched at the unexpected question. How was she going to address the intimacy issue with Mark? They weren’t in love, but would he still expect her to fulfill her wifely duties? She shivered at the notion.

“Are you okay, Mamm?”

“Ya, I just don’t know the answer to that question. I guess we’ll see.”

“Okay.” He snuggled down under the sheet and yawned. “Gut nacht.”

“Gut nacht. I love you.” She kissed his forehead and then stepped out of his room, closing the door behind her.

As she walked into her bedroom, Ethan’s question rolled around in her head, and the muscles in her shoulders tightened. Tomorrow she and Mark would visit the bishop and decide on a wedding date. Then her new life with Mark Riehl would be set in motion.

She dropped onto her chair and stared at her sewing machine, which she’d believed would be her ticket to freedom from the Amish community. But now she was trapped here and heading into a marriage she’d never wanted. When she married Mark she’d be yoked to him for the rest of her life since divorce wasn’t permitted. She’d be forced to marry a man she didn’t love, which meant the marriage would be a sham. She’d never know what it was like to fall in love with a man who loved her in return.

Could she stomach seeing Mark every day, thinking of everything she’d given up to marry him? Would she resent him, and

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